Federal Reserve losing control

[vigilant]

Quote:
If the people found out what it is we have done they would chase us down the street and hang us from the lamppost.

Did Greenspan say that in public, or write it in his book?

[vigilant]

Saudi Prince Loses $4 Billion on Citigroup


November 5th, 2007

Priceless.

Via: Telegraph:

The lift in Prince AlWaleed bin Talal’s Saudi Arabian Kingdom Holdings building has just two buttons. One is marked “ground floor”, while the other says, simply, HRH. AlWaleed is Saudi’s most famous businessman, a nephew of King Abdullah, the grandson of a former prime minister of Lebanon and a friend of Charles and Camilla.

He is a bedouin leader who still holds court to thousands of followers at his desert camp. And his hobbies include travelling the world in a custom Boeing 777 jet and taking the yacht to Cannes for the summer. You simply couldn’t make this stuff up.

He is also the single biggest shareholder in Citigroup, the bank in the eye of the sub-prime storm. Like other shareholders in Citi, he has seen his investment lose 32 per cent of its value this year – but in AlWaleed’s case that accounts for a whopping $4bn. The prince has not been afraid to throw his weight around at the bank in the past and will no doubt make his next trip on the corporate jet a visit to New York to make his presence felt with the bank’s remaining board members.

[vigilant]

November 5th, 2007

Via: National Business Review:

Geneva Finance has secured a moratorium on capital withdrawals for the next six months at a shareholder meeting in Auckland today.

The moratorium resolution passed by an “overwhelming majority,” the company said in a statement.

During the moratorium investors will receive interest payments monthly. Geneva will continue to trade and lend to build up cash reserves, but will accept no new investments.

A third party, on behalf of the trustee, would monitor Geneva to ensure it kept to the conditions of the moratorium.

[jingofever]

Quote:
If the people found out what it is we have done they would chase us down the street and hang us from the lamppost.

Did Greenspan say that in public, or write it in his book?

A comment on this site has the quote attributed to George H. W. Bush during what must be a Barbara Walters interview.

I assume nobody actually said it.

[Brentos]

Quote:
If the people found out what it is we have done they would chase us down the street and hang us from the lamppost.

Did Greenspan say that in public, or write it in his book?

One amazing thing Greenspan did write in an article (which is out there), when he was a gold advocate, was that the primary reason for the Fed keeping low interests rates in America during the 20s was to make sure that UK sterling was strong, so that the City of London could maintain its control over the gold standard. His opinion is in line with Webster Tarpley's research done about the corroboration between the Fed and the Bank of England during that time. These low interest rates of course led to an eventual crash.

The roaring twenties were also due to the massive debt burden given to germany after WW1, payable in gold they didnt even nearly have. Germany had to sell its exports to buy gold from London, which they then used to pay back to London, essentially giving the allies free exports. It also help cause the weimar hyperinflation.

[antiaristo]

.

I'm sorry, I got a bit slipshod.
Here's what I have in my files.

1/8/03 HYPERLINK "http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-obit-mcclendon0108jan08,0,6212268.story" \t "_blank"

White House Reporter Sarah McClendon Dies

"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."
-- George Bush, cited in the June, 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter

She overheard Bush talking to a third party and wrote about it in her newsletter.


Alan Greenspan said the second.
Although he denied it after Bush II was selected.

[Byrne]

... the corroboration between the Fed and the Bank of England during that time.

I posted an article The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System in the Data Dump a while ago.............

An excerpt:

On September 25 2002, Mr. Alan Greenspan went to court and had his remembrances - at the opening of the new HM Treasury Building in London he had this to remark on a key element of UK/US special relationship:

... I am daily reminded of the special relationship the Federal Reserve has had over the decades with decisionmakers from the British government. Literally twenty feet from my desk are plaques commemorating the numerous World War II meetings in our Board Room between the combined military chiefs of the United States and Great Britain that in the words on one plaque, „... set the pattern for allied collaboration and the successful prosecution of World War II.“

But the Federal Reserve‘s association with Britain‘s monetary authorities goes back even further. The tie between the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve was cemented during the 1920s in that extraordinary relationship between Benjamin Strong, the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and Montague Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England. Their correspondence yields quite fascinating insight into the way they interpreted events that are now important history. The ties developed then between the Federal Reserve and British monetary authorities endure to this day.
.....

[11:11]

... the corroboration between the Fed and the Bank of England during that time.

I posted an article The Bank of England and the Federal Reserve System in the Data Dump a while ago.............

An excerpt:

On September 25 2002, Mr. Alan Greenspan went to court and had his remembrances - at the opening of the new HM Treasury Building in London he had this to remark on a key element of UK/US special relationship:

... I am daily reminded of the special relationship the Federal Reserve has had over the decades with decisionmakers from the British government. Literally twenty feet from my desk are plaques commemorating the numerous World War II meetings in our Board Room between the combined military chiefs of the United States and Great Britain that in the words on one plaque, „... set the pattern for allied collaboration and the successful prosecution of World War II.“

But the Federal Reserve‘s association with Britain‘s monetary authorities goes back even further. The tie between the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve was cemented during the 1920s in that extraordinary relationship between Benjamin Strong, the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and Montague Norman, the Governor of the Bank of England. Their correspondence yields quite fascinating insight into the way they interpreted events that are now important history. The ties developed then between the Federal Reserve and British monetary authorities endure to this day.
.....

The sun never sets on the empire, does it? When does he get knighted for his loyalty? Or better yet, tried for his treason.

[antiaristo]

The sun never sets on the empire, does it? When does he get knighted for his loyalty? Or better yet, tried for his treason.

Hey, are you being facetious?
You do know that Alan Greenspan has indeed been knighted, don't you?

Anyways, that Sarah McClendon quote:

"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched."
-- George Bush, cited in the June, 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter

Timing, as always, reveals all.

June 6-8, 1992, Prime Minister John Major, United Kingdom, Met with President Bush during a private visit to Washington, and Camp David (Maryland).

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/15738.htm

What happened?

In the U.S. the staff of the sec wanted to proceed with both of its inquiries. However, they were stopped abruptly in 1992 by the Commission itself, led by Chairman Richard Breeden, not long after British Prime Minister John Major spent a weekend with President George Bush at Camp David.

Had Major persuaded Bush to call off the investigation, as British press reports speculated at the time? Both Bush and Major, through spokesmen, say they don't recall discussing Lloyd's. Former Chairman Breeden, who had been a key White House aide under Bush, told Time that the sec decision against proceeding "was not because Mr. Major and Mr. Bush said anything to each other" but because the SEC decided that disputes between Names and Lloyd's should be resolved in English courts. "We didn't make a judgment that the way (Lloyd's) allocated risks among syndicates wasn't sleazy," Breeden told Time. "We didn't make a judgment that their practices were honest."

http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/v ... 1430#81430

The genesis of this fraud going on in the financial markets today can be found at Camp David in 1992.

Lynching is too good for any of them.

[11:11]

anti, I didn't know he had been knighted.

Goddamn, I hate the British empire and it's minions (I'm including those in the US, of course).

Some interesting stuff here (may be where vigilant found the Sinclair piece): http://godlikeproductions.com/bbs/messa ... 07&mpage=1

Page 2, see the Jim Cramer video. Total meltdown.

I was just listening to CNBC a minute ago. Someone actually used the word 'collapse'.

[11:11]

post from the GLP thread:

Can we agree to disagree ?



My money is in land (boonies) stills, weaponry, cows, Chickens ? seeds,

not necessarily in that order but Ill get back to ya


He's got the right idea (though I'm a vegetarian and wouldn't have the cows and chickens). You can't eat certs.

[antiaristo]

.

Hey vigilant!
Yer man Jim Sinclair gets it.

Clearly the next step to follow a meltdown in the credit risk derivative group’s pounding of the commercial paper market would be a meltdown in the credit default derivative wherein trillions of dollars are involved yet the dealership in this structured product is an incredibly small number.

Those people, according to a Wall Street Journal article a year ago, are Merrill, Citicorp, Lehman, Goldman and Bear. These products, when purchased ostensive, protect the buyer from credit rating reduction and defaults be they in the market place (slashing of value) or the bond issuing entity itself.

The world class oxymoron is the credit default derivative that the financial integrity, as defined as the special performance contract actually performing, depends on the balance sheet capability of the loser on the arrangement. I would suggest to you that the outstanding commitments on the credit default derivatives exceeds the total cash and near cash assets of all the dealers involved. There is another outstanding question which is how many credit default derivatives have been written by the few participants on each other?

Friends, this is all coming down much faster than anyone could have anticipated. It is still too complex for most of the public and professionals to understand. That is the only reason that there isn't a panic attitude roaring through markets. That is a positive for the best interest of the readers who have not acted. According to the assistance given to me by CIGAs emailing me this weekend, less than 15% of you have moved to certification of your investments and the removal of financial intermediaries between you and your finances.

http://www.jsmineset.com/

It's another LMX Spiral!

You saw the graph I posted.

Those five banks named by Sinclair had just under $12,000Billions of Credit Default Swaps.

The biggest of them all, Citi, has $127Billions of equity. $80Billions, if you discount goodwill.

Peanuts.

How did it happen? Easy. They used the Lloyds template.

You create a horendous toxic timebomb and put it into the market. At Lloyds it was asbestos: at the banks it was mortgage backed securities.

Each person takes on the liability in the normal course of business - a routine transaction. They then look closely at what they have taken on - and gag. They pass on the liability to somebody else.

And so it goes on.

A merry-go-round of commissions that fuels its own spiral.

And like in a casino, in the end ALL of the money ends up the pockets of the crooked brokers.

The commission boys are all based in London and New York, aren't they? Oh and some in the Caymans?

Anyways, that's how you create the kind of death spiral that is about to destroy America financially.

Jim Smith gets it. Well done Jim!

Friends, this is all coming down much faster than anyone could have anticipated. It is still too complex for most of the public and professionals to understand. That is the only reason that there isn't a panic attitude roaring through markets.

[vigilant]

I have no idea how accurate this article is. Can anybody in Cleveland or surrounding area verify this?


Foreclosure Wave Sweeps America
November 6th, 2007

Via: BBC:

A wave of foreclosures and evictions is about to sweep the United States in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage lending crisis.

This could destabilise the US housing market and may also lead to further turmoil in financial institutions, who collectively own $1 trillion (£480.6bn) worth of sub-prime debt.

Cleveland, Ohio, is an industrial city on the banks of Lake Erie in the US “rust belt”.

It is the sub-prime capital of the United States. One in ten homes in the city is now vacant, and whole neighbourhoods have been blighted by foreclosed, vandalized and boarded-up homes.

Many of these homes are now owned by the banks and investment pools owning the mortgages, and the company making the most foreclosures in Cleveland is Deutsche Bank Trust, which acts on behalf of such investment pools.

Cleveland is facing a rising crime wave, and the cost of demolishing the vacant houses alone will cost the city $100m of its tax base.

[11:11]

anti, I'm in the state next to Ohio. This was industrial country and that was sent overseas a long time ago. Nothing too new about the ghost towns. The sub prime capital would surprise me. I would have guessed it be to in the American SW. In your financial links, do any list forclosures by location?

When a forclosure occurs, if you don't move, they send the sheriff to evict you. I've often wondered if people would refuse to leave their homes, if there would be enough sheriffs to do the job.

[11:11]

The Ground Zero of Mortgage Foreclosures
Published by Jon Winslow October 29th, 2007 in Location intelligence.
Here’s an unpleasant thought: According the international news agency Agence France Press, Stockton, California, has become “the ground zero” of mortgage foreclosures.

Per an AFP article published in September, 2007, 1in 27 Stockton homes are in foreclosure. According to the article, which bases its information on data from an organization called RealtyTrac, the worst-hit neighborhood is the Weston Ranch subdivision, where hundreds of homes are in foreclosure already.

Because I am so interested in demography, any time such an important news story gets linked to an individual neighborhood, I can’t help but investigate. Because home foreclosure would seem to be so heavily driven by socio-economic data, I decided to look into the profile of Weston Ranch.

Here’s what I learned:

First off, back in 1990, according to the U.S. Census, there were only a total of 71 housing units in the Weston Ranch area. By 2000, according to the U.S. Census, that number had increased to 2,266. In 2006, according to MapInfo’s own estimates, the total number of housing units had increased to 4,159.

That is a growth rate of over 5,000%. In New York, where population is generally decreasing, that kind of growth sounds unbelievable. I can’t even picture it.

The median, family income for Weston Ranch is about $78,000, according to MapInfo estimates. That is not poor. It is also far from grossly rich. Also, home values, according to the Census, were only about $175,000 in 2000. For California, that strikes me as very modest. This is a neighborhood of normal people.

Taking that information, I used MapInfo demographic data that I have stored within a business intelligence data mart on my local server and did some queries. First I grabbed the universe of all U.S. Census Block Groups for the nation — about 200,000. Then I applied a filter so that I was looking at only Block Groups where the number of housing units changed by over 1,000% from 1990 to 2000. They allowed me to create a subset of about 330 Block Groups.

I applied another filter to check for Block Groups where, according to MapInfo, the projected population change from 2000 to 2011 was expected to be over 120%.

Finally, I looked at home value. I decided to search only for Block Groups where the home value in 2000 was, according to Census statistics, over $150,000, but under $220,000.

This got me a list of 19 Block Groups that I consider similar to Stockton’s ‘ground zero.’

Of the 19, 18 are in the Sunbelt – one in Florida and 17 in the western part of the country. The 19th is near Chicago.

According to data from MapInfo PSYTE Advantage, all of the neighborhoods are suburban, high growth areas, although they are evenly split in terms of density: one-third, high density; one-third, low density, etc. They also fall, for the most part, into 3 particular PSYTE Advantage clusters:

Western Sprawl
Sierra Snuggle
Suburban Mélange

Besides being high-growth, mostly Western suburbs, what do these groups have in common? Married couple households, age 25-49, kids under 18, income between $65,000 and $85,000.

Sounds like the American dream.
Now I wouldn’t hit the panic button just yet if your neighborhood comes up on this list. This is back-of-the-napkin analysis. But for reference, the neighborhoods I came up with are:

77382 Spring, Texas
60543 Oswego, Illinois
33913 Fort Myers, Florida
95206 Stockton, California
85308 Glendale, Arizona
85374 Surprise, Arizona
85382 Peoria, Arizona
85248 Chandler, Arizona
89134 Las Vegas, Nevada
89128 Las Vegas, Nevada
89131 Las Vegas, Nevada
89031 North Las Vegas, Nevada
89012 Henderson, Nevada
89124 Las Vegas, Nevada
89148 Las Vegas, Nevada

By the way, another good article on the subject, one from The Associated Press, can be found here:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3697957

http://blog.mapinfo.com/2007/10/29/the- ... eclosures/



I think this is the more accurate article